Stephen Johnston's blog
Why are you trying to stay healthy? What should you be doing in the gym if you’re a regular gym goer? For those of you who’ve ever trained for a marathon, especially as part of a group, you’ll know it’s much easier to go to the gym, or eat healthy, when you have a reason […]
As a student at Cambridge University in 1785, Thomas Clarkson entered an essay competition, in Latin, on the subject of slavery. His contribution not only won the prize, but, enthused him, and others such as William Wilberforce to devote his life to the topic. When subsequently translated into English, it helped propel the nascent abolitionist […]
The FT recently lamented Europe’s growing increase in SUV sales – spurred in part by misplaced European incentives that provide more lenient emissions targets for heavier cars, but also potentially due to a perverse network effect; other people having tall SUVs make you want to have one too. You get a better view and are […]
This quote was the title of the speech given by on November 13, 2019 Dr Yoichi Funabashi, Chairman of the Asia Pacific Initiative, which was referenced in a recent Ditchley Foundation event on the role of Japan in a changing world. It captures the rapid change of mentality caused by the demise of the ‘liberal […]
Can an exchange program change a country? In Japan’s case, it seems the answer is a resounding yes. In the dying days of the last Shogun era of Japan, a group of elders in Chōshū (what is now Yamaguchi Prefecture) picked five of their most promising Samurais and smuggled them out of the country (foreign […]
Homelessness among older adults is increasing and the two concepts are connected in many ways. What is less obvious is the ways in which interventions in one area can have unintended consequences in other areas. Homelessness in older adults is increasing. There’s been a 39% increase in homelessness among older people in the UK over […]
The first of my two Brexit questions was “How do we want to run our society?”, and I suggested the choice between a corporate- and a more locally-minded, civic-run capitalism. My second question is ‘Who will win in tomorrow’s world?’. One answer for free – it’s not the UK, standing alone (with the support of […]
Brexit is not a choice about staying or leaving Europe, it’s a choice about who the UK wants to be. The world has changed since the days of a glorious British Empire, beloved of Leavers, but it’s also changed since the 2012 Olympics, beloved of Remainers. The West needs to navigate new questions that were […]
Image: A library in Sydney, Australia. Nov 2019. Photo credit: Scott David. A few weeks ago I met Susan Nash, a former Fellow at Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute, who is now helping San Jose develop their age-friendly strategy. During our wide=ranging conversation she said something that stuck with me, “an age-friendly city is also a […]
I’ve spent this week in Tokyo, guest of Nomura Research Institute, who were sponsoring the Japanese government’s ‘Well Aging Society Summit’ (WASS). Our flight arrived Sunday, just after the typhoon, and we were lucky to only have a 3hr flight delay – other colleagues were delayed for 20+ hours, or had flights cancelled entirely. I […]